1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an opinion registering application in a Universal Pervasive Transaction Framework, an example of which is voting, and more particularly, to an application that requires a transaction to be multi-coded so that the identity of a user and the content of the transaction cannot both be known by any single device, other than the device in which the transaction is input, within or outside of the network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic-voting (“e-voting”) applications are well known in the art and have several desirable characteristics such as convenience of voting or opinion registering, non-human computation or tallying of votes, faster processing and voting times, and flexibility. However, e-voting, as with most Internet-type transaction, is prone to security violations, inaccuracy, and integrity issues.
E-voting is not like any other electronic transaction. There are two main types of e-voting: polling place e-voting, and remote e-voting.
Remote e-voting is the unsupervised use of an Internet voting device to cast a ballot over the Internet using a computer not necessarily owned and operated by election personnel. Authentication of the voter relies on computer security procedures, but includes some form of identity verification that is at least as secure as existing voting procedures. Remote e-voting is highly susceptible to voter fraud.
Polling place e-voting is defined as the use of Internet Voting Machines at traditional polling places staffed by election officials who assist in the authentication of voters before ballots are cast.
Several cryptography methods have been developed and/or are being used to ensure secrecy and security with regards to e-voting so that e-voting may be reliably used for voting in municipal, regional, or national elections.
Essentially, a polling station computer confirms to a voter that a valid vote has been cast, and also provides a receipt. This paper receipt has an encoded code on it derived from a central computer. After the election, the voter can confirm that his/her vote was counted, for example, by checking a particular Web site to make sure that their receipt's sequence corresponds to those that have been posted, or asking an organization that they trust to do the verification.
For instance, most polling place e-voting applications involve the following type of security: (1) the voter constructs an “anonymous electronic ballot”; (2) the voter shows adequate proof of identity to an election authority; (3) the election authority “stamps” the ballot after verifying that no other ballot has been stamped for this voter; and (4) the voter anonymously inserts the ballot into an electronic mail box.
Current e-voting applications are not secure or reliable. Voters are often required to vote from specific e-voting type voting equipment. Voters are not able to vote wirelessly from a Universal Pervasive Transaction Device, such as a PDA or cell-phone, in a secure manner such that the voting action can be authenticated but without any third party or device knowing the content of the vote of that specific individual. Further, there is no way to ensure that the voting action transaction can transpire without any third party or device knowing the content of the vote of a particular voter.